Clark's Birthday
by clacker
Summary: It's Clark's birthday, and Diana forces Bruce to spend time with his friends. DianaxBruce, LoisxClark I was a fan of Bruce Timm's Justice League, so this is based on those versions of the characters. Now complete!
1. Chapter 1

The Batman was grumpy. Grumpy even for him. Not because of the Joker, or Penguin, or even Nightwing, but because absolutely nothing was happening on his patrol. No crimes, no nefariously complicated plots to take over Gotham, not even a convenience store robbery. No excuse to keep him out. He would have no choice but to return to the Batcave.

"Tonight of all nights," he grumbled, brooding on a rooftop, searching desperately for some sign of trouble to postpone his return home. Where she would undoubtedly be waiting. He stood up with a sigh. Best to head back, or she would come looking for him. The last thing he needed was for people to see the caped crusader, defender of Gotham, the Dark Knight, being dragged home by the cape like a 4 year old. Dick would never let him live it down.

He took the longest possible route back to the Batcave, but the Batmobile was so fast it hardly made any difference. He tried to think up excuses on the way back (roads blocked? traffic jam? ran out of gas?), but even he, the world's greatest detective, was stumped.

"The best thing I can do is head straight to the bat computer and look busy. Not that she'll buy it…"

The Batmobile burst into the cave and stopped smoothly on its parking spot. He jumped out and walked as menacingly as he could towards the computer hub, aware of the eyes of all three of his proteges on him as they pretended to continue training. Dick and Barbara were sparring (rather unconvincingly), and Tim was practicing with the training robot. Dick had been spending more and more time at the Batcave lately. Their relationship was still a little rocky, but it was improving, mostly thanks to Diana. She'd helped Dick understand what Bruce was trying (and completely failing) to communicate, and vice versa. They started spending more time together, and Bruce was really enjoying it, a fact that he tried to communicate to Dick. And though his communication skills were never very great, Dick seemed to get the message, and even return the sentiment. Though Bruce knew he was here for a different reason tonight. His adopted son was here for the show.

Dick and Barbara finished their match and walked over to the console. "So," said Dick, leaning on the back of the Batman's chair, "Hiding down here, huh?" Bruce ignored him, very involved in the complicated series of numbers on the screen. Dick and Barbara exchanged knowing smirks. "She's going to find you," said Dick, "You're not getting out of this one. In fact-" he glanced at the descending elevator, " I think she's here." Barbara patted his shoulder sympathetically, and they returned to the sparring area.

The elevator doors opened revealing a slightly smirky Alfred. "Miss Diana is here to see you, Master Bruce," he said.

"Tell her I'm busy, Alfred."

"I'm afraid that's not possible sir, as Miss Diana accompanied me on the lift."

At this, Alfred stepped aside and a frustrated Amazon emerged from the elevator. She was wearing dark jeans and a long-sleeved, light blue-green shirt with her hair in a ponytail. "Bruce! It's time to go! Aren't you dressed yet?" she asked, literally gliding over to him to glare down at him with her arms crossed and an accusatory expression on her face.

"I've been busy," he said, still staring at the screen.

"Liar," she said, rolling her eyes. "I know absolutely nothing's been happening in Gotham tonight. You're not getting out of this."

He finally turned to face her. "You do remember what happened last time we tried to do something for Clark's birthday, right? He and I got attacked by a plant, and you almost got flattened by an alien. Plus, I might be needed here," he concluded, throwing a batglare at her. To the batkids' amazement (and amusement) however, she held her ground, completely unfazed.

"That was only once, and we were alone in the Fortress of Solitude. We'll be in Metropolis this time, having a normal time, relaxing at Clark's apartment. Clark's promised not to open any suspicious presents without getting them looked at first. And as for Gotham-" here she glanced at the batclan "That's why Dick's here, for extra support. I think the three of them can handle it."

"Of course we can, Diana! You kids go have fun," said Dick, grinning. Here, Bruce shot him a look that clearly meant "traitor," and then returned his gaze to Diana, amping up the intensity of his bat glare.

"Diana, you know I don't like these things."

"Too bad," she shrugged, "You're going." She pointed to the room where he kept some "Bruce Wayne" clothes for emergencies. "Now, go get dressed and grab your gift for Clark."

At this, Bruce amped up the intensity of his glare to a whole new level. Even Dick, Barbara, and Tim, who were more used to his various glares and general moodiness, were taken slightly aback. Diana, however, returned the glare and continued to point towards the room. They remained like that for a few seconds, in a competition of wills, waiting to see who would blink first. Finally, Bruce sighed. "Fine," he said, rising angrily and storming towards the door. "Good," said Diana, smiling.

Dick, Barbara, and Tim were stunned. Nobody bossed the Batman around like that! She didn't even flinch! And he actually gave in. But the show wasn't over. Diana chatted with the three batkids while Bruce changed. He emerged in a few minutes wearing a severe white button-down tucked into khakis. "Fine," he grumbled, "I'm ready."

Diana looked appalled. "Bruce, you're going to your best friend's for his birthday, not a Wayne Enterprises business meeting. Either change the shirt or the pants," she said waving him toward the door.

The other three were aghast, mouths hanging open. She was dead. She was so dead. They were sure of it. They froze, anticipating the fireworks, but they were surprised again. Bruce just rolled his eyes and went back into the room. "And untuck the shirt!" Diana called after him. He raised a hand in acknowledgment. But what the batkids saw that Diana didn't was a little smirk on his face as he left the room. They quickly exchanged a series of looks and a lot of raised eyebrows. He had done that on purpose! At first they thought he was just stalling, but that didn't fit the smirk. He knew his wardrobe would annoy her, and was messing with her! They barely had time to process this astounding realization, when Bruce re-emerged. He'd kept the khakis, but was instead wearing a light blue, well tailored button-down, untucked, with the sleeves rolled casually to the elbows. Diana blushed slightly as he emerged. He looked good, and he knew it. Dick didn't miss the small smile of satisfaction at Diana's reaction on Bruce's face. But he soon resumed his affected air of exasperation.

"I'm ready," he said, grabbing Clark's gift. "If the fashion police approve," he glanced at Diana.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled as she affirmed that she did approve of his choice. He smiled teasingly as he offered her his arm to escort her to the elevator. They said good-bye to the stunned batclan and ascended in the elevator.

They stood there, momentarily stunned by the weird behavior they just witnessed. The only time they saw Bruce more out of his normal broodiness was when he had his billionaire playboy act on.

"I told you so!" Barbara said triumphantly, breaking the silence. "He's totally crazy about her."

"I'll admit, that was pretty weird," said Dick, "But I'm still not sure he likes her that much."

Tim looked over at the computer. "Hey! We can use the security cameras to spy on them!" He looked over at Batgirl. "You think you can make it so he won't know we were checking up on him?"

"No problem," she said, cracking her knuckles and heading over to the computer. They soon had a view of the two of them entering the massive garage. They bypassed all of billionaire Bruce Wayne's signature cars and headed straight for an old black Dodge Challenger in the back. No one knew that Bruce Wayne owned such a car. The public saw him as a showy billionaire, with only the latest, flashiest, most expensive cars. Bruce kept his dad's old Challenger around so he could go for a drive without being attacked by the press. He and Dick used to throw on some old jeans and t-shirts and baseball caps and go for a drive whenever their playboy billionaire or nighttime vigilante lives got to be too much. They'd occasionally stop for ice cream or go to a local park to shoot some hoops. Those times were some of Dick's best memories. They watched Bruce and Diana head towards the car. Diana looked wistfully at the car, running her fingers along the door. Bruce watched her do this, walked to the passenger side, and tossed her the keys. Her whole face seemed to light up and she happily bounced into the driver's seat. Dick, Barbara, and Tim nearly had heart attacks out of shock.

"No. Way," said Dick, "He's letting her drive the convertible. He never lets anyone drive the convertible."

"I told you!" said a still stunned Barbara. "He so likes her." She stuck out her hand in Nightwing's general direction, not taking her eyes off the screen, "Pay up."  
"He won't even let me drive the convertible!" pouted Tim as Nightwing shuffled through his wallet for a 20.

Barbara rolled her eyes. "You don't even have your permit, Tim."

"So? He lets me drive motorcycles and swing from buildings and fight insane criminals every night! It seems like driving a car would be a lot safer than any of that. He won't let me near it, but he hands the keys to a woman who didn't know cars existed until a few years ago."

"He must really like her," said Dick, shaking his head.

"Yeah," said Barbara, "Too bad everyone knows it but him."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, friends! I realized that on the first chapter, I didn't really say anything at all about the story :) Well, it's going to be about 8 chapters, give or take. This one is a little short, but there's a longer one coming up soon. Enjoy!**

Clark was having a pretty good birthday so far. The Daily Planet staff threw him a party at a local restaurant. No aliens crashed it, he didn't get any weird brain-sucking plants, and they even brought him a cake! Lois had strong-armed Perry into paying for everything, so no entrees were served, only some hors d'oeuvres, but it was still a great party. In fact, Clark was sure the whole party was Lois's idea. She got the waiters to sing happy birthday to him when the cake was brought out and gave everyone silly hats to wear. Clark's was a sparkly pink tiara that lit up, but he didn't care. Perry cut the party short, saying that he wasn't going to give them an excuse to come in late the next day. The staff of the Daily Planet weren't fooled, however, since it was Friday, and Perry clearly did not want to buy any more hors d'oeuvres. So Lois and Clark walked home together, laughing and joking with each other. They lived right across the hall from each other in the same building, plus they frequently worked as partners investigating stories at the Daily Planet, so they spent a lot of time together.  
It was weird for Clark, being two people around Lois. Lately, at Diana's suggestion, he'd been trying to be himself more when he was around Lois, especially when he was Clark. He was letting Superman influence Clark Kent. Or maybe it was letting Clark Kent influence Superman. Either way, they'd been growing even closer lately as a result. Sometimes, he found that being Clark Kent was more real than being Superman! As Superman, he couldn't talk about his Earth parents, or work, or their mutual friends from the Daily Planet. It was getting hard to develop a relationship like that. He was beginning to realize that Diana was right. Lois was going to have to find out eventually. He wanted to marry this girl someday, and he couldn't do that without telling her everything about himself, and he couldn't do that when both Superman and Clark Kent had secrets to keep. He shook off these thoughts and focused on the present. They had arrived at both their doors and were recovering from a re-telling of how Jimmy had spilled the whole pitcher of iced tea all over himself when he was trying to impress a particularly pretty waitress at the party. Perhaps the funniest part of the whole story was that she actually gave him her number and they set up a date.

"Wow," said Lois, giggling, "That was hilarious! His face when she actually gave him her number was so precious! We have to ask him how it went on Monday." She turned the key to unlock her apartment. "Hey, wanna come in and watch a movie? Make some popcorn? I have _Back to the Future_," she said, smiling. They loved to watch the whole series together all the time. They could practically quote the whole thing to each other, and they constantly made references to it at work, much to the amusement, and annoyance, of their coworkers. They even had a competition to see who could sneak in the most references to it into their lower profile articles without Perry noticing. So far, neither of them had been caught. They had to confiscate several letters to the editor from some clever readers who had picked it up.

Clark grinned, "Sounds fun, Lois, but I'm kinda expecting a couple of friends tonight. They're driving up from Gotham for my birthday."

"Oh. I didn't know you knew anyone from Gotham," said Lois. Her tone was hard for Clark to identify.

"Er… well… I do. Old friends," said Clark, not really knowing how to reply.

"Well," said Lois, opening her door, "have fun then."

"You could meet them if you like? I've told them all about you."

Lois smiled slightly at this, but she said, "No, no. I wouldn't want to interrupt. Plus I have… things I need to do. Cleaning and work and such."

"Well, okay," said Clark, frowning, knowing there was no way Lois would clean on a Friday night, "See you in the morning."

"See you then," said Lois, shutting the door with a little more force than necessary.

"That was weird," thought Clark, unlocking his apartment right across from Lois's.

...

Lois Lane was not jealous. Absolutely not. Of course Clark had friends outside of work. And of course he would want to spend time with them, especially if they came all the way from Gotham. He was a great guy. Why shouldn't he have friends she didn't know? Lois knew she was being silly. She shouldn't be so possessive of him. He was her best friend, and she was his. Besides, it's not like she liked him, not that way. Not at all. She had Superman. Or, at least, she thought she did. Lois loved spending time with him, and she was so comfortable with him. But it was hard to get close to him. She knew he grew up on Earth, but he wouldn't say where, or even who raised him. She knew he thought he was protecting her, and he had a secret identity to protect, but it was difficult when he couldn't even tell her about his childhood. Of course, sometimes Clark wasn't much better. He always disappeared at odd times, and his excuses never made sense. He also went through a lot of coffee cups. Most of his seemed to shatter in his hands, usually when he was stressed, a particularly repugnant man decided to hit on Lois. It was kind of funny, actually. Every time he broke one, he'd just sigh, throw away the pieces, and pull an identical one out of his desk drawer and head back to the coffee pot. There were some stranger things though. One time, she caught him staring intently at his cold cup of coffee, almost as if he were trying to heat it up with his mind. She looked back a few moments later, and she swore the coffee had started steaming. In some ways, he reminded her of Superman. She hadn't thought of it until recently, when Clark started to be more outgoing and relaxed. They were both honest and caring, they stood up for people who needed their help, and they weren't afraid to stand up to her. She wished she could meet up with both of them sometime, see how they interacted. They even looked similar. Come to think of it, she'd never seen the two of them together. They always managed to just miss each other by a few seconds. "Although," she thought to herself, "a few seconds is long enough for Superman to fly around and change into a suit and glasses…" She shook her head. No way. She wasn't going to think like that. She didn't need anything that complicated in her life. She was just tired. In the morning, she'd remember this and think how silly she was being. But, would she really be disappointed if Clark was somehow Superman?

Lois pondered all of this as she changed into some of her comfiest sweats and make a mug of tea. The sweatshirt she was wearing was actually Clark's. It was one of his old college sweatshirts he loaned her when they were on a business trip and the airline lost her luggage. When her tea was ready, she grabbed it, snagged a book to read off the coffee table, and sat down at her door to wait to spy on Clark's friends when they arrived.

When the door to Lois's apartment had been installed, somehow the door had been put in upside down. This mean that the doorknob for her door was slightly higher than normal, but it also meant that the peephole was on the bottom of the door. The managers of the building had refused to replace the door, but gave in and added a second peephole at eye level when Lois threatened to sue because of the possible danger of her being unable to see more than the legs of the person standing at her door. This arrangement worked out very well for Lois, who discovered that while the lower peephole was ill-suited for seeing whoever was at her own door, it was perfect for spying on the people walking up and down her hall. She could sit comfortably on the floor by her door and peer out through the peephole with ease. Clark nearly died laughing when she told him how she spied on the visitors to their floor.

"Lois," said Clark, nearly in tears from laughing, "You really are the nosiest person I've ever met!"

"What?" she had huffed, frustrated, "Just because I'm curious about the strange people who might come up to our floor? You never know what might happen. Besides, how do you think I got to be the best reporter at the Daily Planet?"

Clark teased her good-naturedly about it for a while, but she shut him up when she identified the robbers who had been breaking into several apartments in their building. In fact, she'd called the police in time to prevent them from robbing Clark's apartment, a fact she never let him forget.

She sat there waiting for a little while, sipping her tea, wondering what Clark had told his friends about her. Hopefully it wasn't anything embarrassing! She almost left her post at the door at the thought that he might have told them about her spying at the peephole. But she relaxed, confident that Clark wouldn't embarrass her like that. He was too nice. Plus she'd threatened him with his life if he ever told anyone.

She had several false alarms, and she was just about to give up and go order some take out when the elevator pinged. She sat up eagerly, peering through the peephole, while being careful to not cast any shadows underneath the door and reveal her presence to Clark's friends. The doors opened, revealing two people, a man and a woman, both casually dressed with dark hair. The man was hard to place. He looked familiar, but he looked like he was in the wrong place and wearing the wrong clothes. Lois probably would have recognized him if she thought about it, but she was shocked (and slightly jealous) at the sight of the woman. She was gorgeous: tall, slender but strong, blue eyed, and very graceful. Clark didn't say a freakishly beautiful model was one of his friends. They stopped at Clark's door and knocked, the man looking up and down the hall tensely. Clark opened the door with a huge grin on his face. The woman grinned and hugged him excitedly, careful not to drop his present. The force of her hug knocked him back a little, but he recovered and twirled her around. Lois nearly ripped her book in half. The man was much calmer, but cracked a small smile and shook Clark's hand. Clark grinned and slapped him on the back as he walked in, causing the man to grimace slightly, but continue on as if he was used to such enthusiastic thumps on the back.

Lois was staring in shock, twisting the book as Clark moved to close the door. He was just about to close it when he paused, and seemed to stare straight at her. Lois froze. Surely he couldn't see her. She was careful not to cast a shadow under the door. Still, he seemed to stare right at her, then smile and close the door.

**Next time: Birthday with friends  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, friends! Sorry about the slight update delay. Things got a little hectic. Hope you enjoy! And thank you for your reviews, they're appreciated :)**

"You guys are never going to believe this," said Clark, grinning as he closed the door and went to sit down across from his friends seated together on the couch. "Lois was watching us just now when you came in." He laughed. "She looked completely shocked that I actually have friends!"

Bruce smirked. "I think it was a little more than that," he said, glancing pointedly at Diana.

Both superpowered beings blushed. "You think she's jealous of Diana?" asked Clark, grinning goofily in Lois's direction. "But I thought she didn't like me, er, Clark, that way."

Diana rolled her eyes. "You're already dating her, Clark, remember? Seriously, sometimes you forget that you spend almost every moment with her. And yes, she definitely likes you that way, whether she knows it or not. Don't forget, Wonder Women met Clark Kent and Lois Lane for that interview a while ago. She was definitely very protective of you, Clark-you. She really didn't like Jimmy taking a picture of us together. In the one with all three of us, she tried very hard to be the one standing in the middle, and gave Jimmy a death glare when he put me between you and her. But she kept it professional overall, even though it was clearly bothering her. I can respect that."

Clark frowned, "I don't remember it being like that."

Bruce barked out a laugh. "That's because you're completely oblivious. You can see through walls, but you can be so blind." Bruce looked thoughtful, ignoring Clark's indignant glare. "But in her defense, it probably didn't help that everyone thought that Superman and Diana had a thing back then. She probably thought Diana was flirting with Clark and with Superman!"

"I do not flirt willy-nilly like some women! Especially not with my friends," Diana huffed. "That was a senseless rumor anyway. Why would anyone think Superman and I were together? It's ridiculous! He was dating Lois even then, and he and I hadn't know each other very long."

"Probably because you both give off such a goody-two shoes vibe and have equally spangly, patriotic outfits," smirked Bruce.

Diana rolled her eyes and Clark laughed, "But neither of us are actually from America. She's from Themyscira, and I'm Kryptonian."

Clark turned to his friend, "You should be the all-American superhero, not us," he teased, "All decked out in red, white, and blue, and the stars and stripes. With a giant, patriotic bat symbol."

They teased Bruce about this for awhile, calling Robin the "Bald Eagle" and coming up with silly names for all his gadgets, like the freedom-rang ("Which is punny!" Clark gleefully pointed out, "Since freedom, y'know, rings? Get it?"). Bruce groaned and Diana ordered some take out for them. Ever since Clark learned how to use chopsticks, all he wanted to do was eat Chinese food, so they ordered all sorts of dishes, from noodles to dumplings. While they waited for the food, they chatted and talked about work and people in the League. Well, Diana and Clark chatted. Bruce contributed sarcastic comments every once in a while. Ironically, he was the source for most of the gossip, since he knew pretty much everybody's business. The only one who might know more than him was the Question.

Eventually, Diana and Bruce started playing a game of darts, each trying to outdo the other. They both had excellent aim, thanks to years of batarang practice and Amazon warrior training. What started out as a simple game turned into flying and flipping over furniture and throwing multiple darts at the same time. Bruce argued that while Diana could fly and control her flips and spins, he was at the mercy of gravity, which took more skill. Diana argued that it was just as difficult because she had to concentrate on flying and throwing the dart at the same time. Clark just sat back and watched, and occasionally acted as judge. He enjoyed seeing his friends argue and flirt. Now there was relationship that even he wasn't oblivious about, even though it took him forever to figure it out. He'd been so excited when he told John, but John just rolled his eyes and told him that, yeah, it'd been going on for a long time, and the entire league already knew. There was an active betting pool that had existed for years about when or if they would ever start dating. So far, nothing had happened, so many members and watchtower workers had lost money on dates that had come and gone. Diana had just finished deflecting darts thrown by Clark to the bulls eye with her bracelets (worn at all times) when the food arrived. Diana and Bruce paid for it, and then they all sat down on the couches to watch a movie while they ate.

"Let's watch Iron Man!" said Diana. "It's such an interesting movie."

"I thought you'd hate it, since Pepper Potts doesn't really fight or anything," said Clark.

She sighed, "I have come to accept that not every woman is talented at combat. Pepper Potts has her own strengths and weapons. She must be strong to handle the likes of Tony Stark." She paused, "Though she should learn some self defense at least. Basic instruction should really be given to all young girls in school."

Clark grinned, "That sounds more like you."

"This movie is impossible," grumbled Bruce. "There's no way he could build a suit like that, much less build one in a terrorist prison cell. And even if he did, and he really built a prototype in his basement, there's no way it would look that nice. No normal human could fit in that suit unless they were a tall, ridiculously proportioned male model."

"Please!" said Clark. "We do stuff more impossible than that all the time! You've built even crazier things before in your basement. And so what if it doesn't fit realistically?"

"You're just jealous that you didn't think of it first," teased Diana. "He's really a lot like you, you know. He's a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, crime fighter. He's just a little more…outgoing."

"You can say that again," said Bruce, "Telling the world his secret identity? Not smart."

"Then again, you don't tell anyone your secret identity." said Clark, grinning. "As soon as I found out, you made sure to show me that you knew my secret identity too."

"You cheat," said Bruce, grabbing the container of dumplings.

"Well I figured it out on my own," said Diana. "He was a little too risky at a dinner party in Paris."

"Then I guess I won't be rescuing you from your overbearing admirers next time, Princess, in order to ensure my secrecy."

They bickered like this for awhile until Clark shushed them as the movie started. For awhile, Bruce couldn't hold in his comments at how impossible everything was. But even he settled down and got absorbed in the story. As they watched, Bruce's arm slowly moved from resting on the back of the sofa behind Diana to draped around her shoulders, and Diana leaned back and rested against him as they watched, much to the amusement of Clark. They looked like a normal couple watching a movie. But Clark knew that as soon as the movie ended, Bruce would realize his arm was around Diana, and he would awkwardly shift away from her, and Diana would pretend not to care. It drove Clark crazy how stubborn Bruce was. He had some silly idea in his head that him dating Diana would put her in danger somehow. Which was ridiculous, since Diana was an Amazon warrior with super-strength who could fly and juggle cars. She fought Ares and Hades! She could handle the Penguin, or , or anyone of his enemies. But Clark suspected there was more to Bruce's story, something more personal.

Soon enough, the movie ended, and everything happened as Clark predicted. Bruce shifted away from Diana, and she folded her arms in front of her, looking at her feet propped on the coffee table. Bruce locked eyes with Clark, and then looked away guiltily. Clark frowned. He really needed to talk to Bruce alone, knock some sense into him. Suddenly, Clark smiled, but hid it before anyone noticed.

"Hey, Bruce," Clark asked, "Did you come in the convertible?"

Bruce frowned. "Yeah. Why?"

"Cause it just started raining outside. I can hear it. I can hear thunder in the distance too, and it sounds like it's coming closer. I hope you didn't leave the top down."

Bruce sighed. "Yeah, we did."

"I can go put it up. I still have the keys," said Diana, pulling them out of her pocket. "And I'll grab the umbrella from the car while I'm out there."

"That's okay, I can-"

"Sounds great!" said Clark, cutting off Bruce. He handed her his own umbrella. "And when you get back, we can do presents!" he said, grinning excitedly.

"Okay, see you in a few minutes," laughed Diana, leaving the apartment with the umbrella.

As soon as she was gone, Clark turned to Bruce. "So. Why are you being such a baby about Diana?" 

**Next time: Bruce's answer, and presents!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, friends! I saw some of you were curious about the distance between Gotham and Metropolis. I looked it up, and found everything from 100's of miles to just across the bay. It hasn't really been set in stone. For this story, I'm just assuming a moderate drive time. Not inconvenient, but not right next door. Also, I don't know some of the details from the Batman series, so I might have a few things wrong. Please bear with me! My main reference is the Justice League show.  
**

**Now to continue: What is Bruce's explanation?**

"We are not going through this again," growled and exasperated Bruce. "You know why. I don't want the Joker or any of my other enemies going after her."

"Oh come on! You of all people know Diana can take care of herself. She can deflect bullets, fly, and throw cars around. She thought you were the weak one when we first met her, remember? Then she realized you could fight as well as anyone. Why can't you do the same for her? She's saved you're sorry butt too many times to count. You're obviously crazy about her. This isn't about her safety, it's about your relationship phobia."

"You don't know anything, Clark," Bruce glared at him. "Diana and I are friends. Really good friends. She's an amazing woman. But who knows if it would work out. Just look at John and Shayera. It gets awkward if they're even in the same room together. And if anything happened to her because of me, I couldn't take it. She's not invulnerable. Besides, I've had serious relationships before."

"First of all, she knows the risks. She chooses to face it every day. That's not your responsibility, even when she does face the Joker. And, really? Serious relationships? You mean like Talia and Selina? Criminals who would stab you in the back if there was enough money involved? Those aren't serious, Bruce. Selina didn't even know your secret identity. You went into those knowing they wouldn't work out, so you weren't really risking anything. With Diana, it's different. She's your friend. You're afraid of losing her, like you've lost others. So you're not even going to try. You're just giving up, cause you're too scared to put yourself out there." Clark's expression softened. "You don't want to risk getting hurt again. But, isn't it worth it? Wouldn't you rather try than go on never knowing? Seeing her move on, and finding someone else?"

Bruce gritted his teeth and clenched his hands. "You don't know what you're talking about, Clark. You don't know what it feels like to lose someone like that. It's better to not get involved. To not…care. It's less complicated that way."

"Well, you're right. I don't know what it's like to see your family murdered before your eyes. But I do understand something you don't. I know what it's like to not know. To never know. I will never know my birth parents, Bruce. I will never see them, never talk to them, never know what life would have been like with them. I'll never know Kara's parents, or my grandparents. I'll never get to see my home planet. I'll never have any brothers or sisters. I would give almost anything to get to know them." He was silent for a moment, remembering the world the Black Mercy plant had created for him, on Krypton, with a family. "I may not know the pain of losing someone that close to you, but you don't know the pain of never knowing what could have been. Not like I have. But you will if you let Diana get away. Hasn't getting to know Dick again been a great experience for you? You took a risk there, and it paid off. Besides," he said smugly, "it's too late. You already care about her." He grinned. "You get super defensive when anyone flirts with her."

At this, a surprisingly quiet Bruce looked up at Clark and scowled. "I don't do that."

Clark laughed. "Yeah, you do. If they flirt and she looks even a little flattered, you give them some of the deadliest batglares I have ever seen. Then you go research every detail of their lives so you can keep tabs on them at all times." His face grew serious again. "Look, Bruce. She genuinely cares about you. She knows your flaws and still likes you anyway. That's what people look for! Someone who cares about them as they are, who makes them want to be a better person for them." He paused and looked toward the door. "We don't have much time, she'll be back in a minute. Just think about this: she makes you smile more than anyone. You listen to her, you respect her, and she makes you happy. And she's definitely not afraid to tell you when you're wrong. You don't want to let this opportunity slip by." He paused. "And you know what you were saying about John and Shayera? That was a pretty unique circumstance. She was a spy from Thanagar! But despite all of that, they're patching things up. If they can be friends again after all of that, you don't have to worry about you and Diana."

Just then Diana walked in the door, shaking out the umbrella and cutting off Bruce's response.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "It is really pouring out there!" She returned Clark's umbrella, then walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Bruce, tossing him the keys to the car, which he caught out of pure habit. "So, what did you boys talk about while I was gone?"

"John and Shayera," said Clark without missing a beat. Bruce raised his eyebrow, surprised at his quick thinking. How long had his friend been able to lie so easily? Clark just grinned at him and kept talking, "It seems like they're patching things up. We were just talking about how nice it is that they can actually talk to each other again. But forget about that," he sat forward eagerly, "I see you brought me presents."

Diana laughed. "Okay, okay. Here." She handed him a simply wrapped box. "Open Bruce's gift first."

Clark opened the box to reveal a plain-looking metal coffee cup. "You mentioned you go through a lot of coffee cups," said Bruce. "Hopefully this one will last longer. It's made of the strongest metal alloy on the planet. I don't doubt that you're strong enough to break it, but it should be resistant enough that you'll at least notice when you start crushing it. If that's not enough, a high-pitched alarm that only you can hear will go off if it's under too much pressure, kind of like a dog whistle. It also has controls on the bottom to heat the contents of the cup, so you can stop using your heat vision to heat it up during the day and almost getting caught." At this he looked at Clark accusingly.

"Hey! Cold coffee is really gross! But, I'll never have to do that again, thanks to you, Bruce. This is amazing! Thank you so much!" Clark gave Bruce a grateful grin. He was really touched at Bruce's thoughtfulness. He'd gotten something he really needed and would use, and he clearly put a lot of work into it. Now he wouldn't have to worry about Lois catching him staring awkwardly at his coffee anymore.

"Okay!" said Diana eagerly, "Mine next!" She handed him a rectangular gift wrapped in blue paper with red and yellow ribbons, the colors of his uniform. Clark unwrapped it, revealing a plain picture frame with a picture of the three of them. Clark smiled fondly as he looked at it. It was when the rest of the League forced them to take the day off. They had all protested, especially Bruce, saying they might be needed, and it wasn't a good idea for them to all be off on one day. J'onn, Wally, Shayera, and John had all assured them that if they were needed, they'd teleport them to the Watchtower immediately. They told them that J'onn would be available all day to transport them wherever they wanted, except for the Watchtower. They'd been given a camera and three changes of clothes and then tossed into the transporter. It was one of the best days they ever had. Even Bruce seemed to relax slightly as they day wore on. They went to a carnival and played games. Diana won a stuffed unicorn like the one from _Despicable Me_, but smaller. They had J'onn teleport them various places all over the world. They went to the tallest building on Earth, to the Great Wall of China, and to the volcanoes of Hawai'i. After a full day, they found a small, quiet cafe and sat at a booth in the back. That's where Diana had taken the picture. The three of them were sitting together on one side of the booth. They had propped the camera up on a napkin dispenser and set the timer. Diana was in the middle, with her arms wrapped around Bruce and Clark, smiling happily at the camera, with her unicorn sitting on her lap. Clark was smiling and doing bunny ears behind Diana's head. Even Bruce was smiling, but he wasn't looking at the camera. He had his arms folded, resting on the table. He had small, genuine smile on his face, and his eyes were looking tenderly at Diana sitting next to him. He looked so relaxed, and so content being near her, and so happy. Happy because he was with her, and because she was happy.

"I love it," said Clark, smiling. "It's too bad I can't have it at work. People would ask too many questions." He handed it Bruce to look at, who stared at it intently, looking at his own face in the picture. He looked stunned. He'd never seen a picture of himself like that. At least, not a recent one.

"Actually you can," said Diana. "The frame is enchanted. You can only see the picture if you know exactly who is in it, both our civilian and superhero identities. For example, you would have to know that Clark and Superman are the same person. Zatanna helped me make it. If whoever looks at it doesn't know who we are, they see a very nice picture of you, Kara, and your parents, Clark."

"It's perfect," said Clark, walking over to Diana and giving her a hug. "Thank you so much. Thank you both. This has been the perfect birthday."

Diana smiled. "I'm really glad we could come. We don't get to do this very often." She looked pointedly at Bruce. "I told you this would be fun."

He whipped his head up, snapping out of his reverie staring at the photo. "Right," he said, recovering, ignoring Diana's puzzled expression and Clark's smug one. "It's been nice," he admitted grudgingly. "It really helped that Clark didn't open any mysterious packages from outer space this time," he said smirking, directing the attention back to Clark.

"I told you I was sorry!"

"So, Clark," interrupted Diana before they started arguing, "How are things going with Lois?"

Clark sighed. "I don't know. Superman has hit a bit of a rut. I love spending time with her and getting to be myself around her, but it's hard to work on a relationship when there are things you can't talk about. Clark and her are still best friends, and it's been getting better ever since I started to be a little more myself. But as Clark, I have to wear the glasses and pretend to stub my toe and stuff." He rubbed his forehead. "I can't really be myself around her either way. A lot overlaps, but Clark can't talk about having powers or about Krypton, and Superman can't talk about work or Smallville. It's a mess."

"Clark," said Diana gently, "you're going to have to tell her if you want this to work out. You can't keep going on like this. The longer you wait, the harder it will be."

"She might figure it out on her own," interjected Bruce. "Lois is smart. I'm sure she already has some suspicions. I mean, I'm surprised she hasn't figured it out yet."

"We can't all be Batman, Bruce," said Clark, rolling his eyes.

"I figured it out by planting a tracking device on you and following you home. But she knows you on a personal level. You and Superman are literally the two people she spends the most time with. Plus, those glasses don't even look like they're any sort of real prescription. She should have noticed something by now."

"Maybe she doesn't want it to be Clark, or anyone else she knows," pointed out Diana. "I mean, that would mean that Clark had been lying to her for years." Here Clark cringed. "Even if it was for her own good," she qualified. "You can't count on her to figure it out, Clark. It's been years, and she hasn't worked it out. You're going to have to tell her."

"I know," said Clark dejectedly, "but she didn't exactly take the whole dual personality thing well when she learned the truth about Bruce."

"Wait, what!?" exclaimed a shocked Diana, turning to a cringing Bruce. "Lois Lane knows you're secret identity? Lois Lane, the Lois Lane, reporter for the Daily Planet, does anything for a story. Clark's Lois Lane?" When Bruce didn't deny it, Diana looked back and forth between the two men, "Why wasn't I told this?"

"You didn't know that?" said Clark. "I thought you knew that. She found out when his mask got yanked off during a fight while they were dating."

"Dating?" exclaimed Diana. She whipped her head around to look at Bruce. "You dated Lois Lane? When was this?"

Bruce glared at Clark so intensely that it looked like he might develop heat vision. Then he turned to Diana. "It was a long time ago. The Joker had come to Metropolis, so Bruce Wayne came to stay for a few weeks so Batman could work out what he was up to. I'll admit, I really liked her. She was smart, witty. But when she found out who I was, she decided I probably had too many secrets that she didn't want to know. So we split up. But she promised to never tell anyone who I was."

"So that's why you wanted to make sure Lois couldn't see you when we came up here. If she realized you and Clark were friends, she might figure out that Clark is Superman."

"Yes," said Bruce, actually looking slightly uncomfortable, "I should have told you before, Diana. I'm sorry."

Clark and Diana both looked at him in surprise. Bruce never apologized! At least, not that sincerely.

After a pause Diana responded, "No, you're right. It's your business. You don't have to tell me all the women you've dated. I can't expect something like that." She gave Bruce a small smile. "At least I know now that you're capable of dating women with a little more sense than the women Bruce Wayne flirts with," she teased.

They changed topics and continued to chat for awhile, but Diana was slightly subdued. She seemed to be mulling something over in her head that she didn't like. But she still laughed and smiled and enjoyed the time with her friends. After awhile, Clark checked his watch.

"Wow! It's getting late. You should probably head back to Gotham soon if you want to actually sleep tonight."

Diana checked her own watch. "You're probably right," she said dejectedly. She stood up and stretched and they began collecting their things. "I wish we could do this more often," she remarked.

"Yeah," said Clark. "Too bad they're no off hours for saving the world."

Diana was about to reach for the doorknob when Clark smacked his forehead. "Oh no! What are we going to do about Lois? She's still there."

"Still?" said Diana disbelievingly, looking instinctively in the direction of Lois's apartment even though she couldn't see her. "It's been hours!"

"Lois is kinda… stubborn that way," said Clark smiling. Actually, Lois wasn't still sitting at the door. She was however, sitting on the couch, reading a book and glancing at the door, clearly waiting to hear when Bruce and Diana left.

"I don't see the problem," said Bruce. "Diana and I can leave whether she's there or not."

"Well," said Clark, avoiding eye contact with the two, "it's just, she's still sitting at the door, and she might still think that Diana likes me-"

"Hey!" interjected Diana.

"OR that I like her, and no matter what I say that's still going to bother her, cause she doesn't believe anything unless she sees it with her own eyes, so it would help me if maybe you, the two of you, maybe, sorta-"

"You want me and Diana to act like a couple so she won't think you like someone else."

"Pretty much, yeah," said Clark wincing, "That sounds really pathetic."

"It is," deadpanned Bruce.

"Wait," said Diana, looking put off by the whole idea, "Pretend to be a couple? What exactly do you want us to do?"

"Nothing huge, just maybe hold hands or something. Smile a lot," said Clark, "Come on, Diana, Bruce, please? This would really save me a lot of explaining with Lois."

Bruce gave Clark a look that said he knew exactly what Clark was up to. Inside, Clark deflated. It was too much to hope for. There's no way he could fool Bruce. He would never go along with-

"Fine, I'm up for it," said Bruce, looking at Clark before turning to Diana, "You?"

Diana didn't speak for a few moments out of shock. After a few seconds she managed, "Um, sure, I guess so. For Clark."

Clark's shock at Bruce's compliance quickly turned to giddiness. Anything to get his two closest friends to see how perfect they would be together. Plus, it really would help him dealing with Lois. If the night ended and she still thought Diana liked Clark, it would take forever to convince her otherwise. She would practically require a full trial and a complete set of evidence to convince her that she misinterpreted what she saw. He quickly hid his grin and instead put on a relieved expression. "Thank you guys so much! This is a huge help for me." He put his hand on the doorknob and looked back at his two friends. "You ready?"

Bruce looked at Diana and took her hand gently, almost smiling at her. Diana smiled back, but as soon as he turned to Clark, she looked at the floor sadly, like holding his hand and pretending to be a couple was painful. Bruce held up their joined hands to Clark to show they were ready, and Clark opened the door.

**Next: Holding hands**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks again for the reviews! I really appreciate it :) Enjoy this chapter! It's short and sweet :)**

Holding Bruce's hand and smiling at him like they were in love was one of the hardest things Diana had ever had to do. His hands weren't sweaty and he wasn't crushing her fingers (as if he could), but standing there, faking a relationship that she had started to believe would never happen hurt her heart. Finding out that Bruce had dated Lois didn't help either. She meant what she said: who he dated was his business. It was unfair of her to expect him to tell her those things when they weren't a couple. But the fact that he did date Lois, someone so real, not shallow or vapid at all, and the fact that he even seemed serious about it, but wouldn't date her hurt Diana. Was there something wrong with her? She knew there wasn't, but she kept wondering all the same. Did he not really mean it when he flirted with her, or sang a song so Circe would change her back, or smiled at her? Diana knew she was being silly, and not at all Amazonian. If he didn't like her, that wasn't her fault. If only he would stop being so darn ambiguous. She had been planning to talk to him about it soon. She wouldn't force or threaten him to date her, that wouldn't be fair, or caring, but she would set some ground rules. They couldn't continue this flirting without it going anywhere. Diana couldn't take it anymore. They could either be just friends, or they could pursue a relationship. Not knowing was too difficult. She had recently started work at an intelligence agency as an agent named Diana Prince, and she had been asked on several dates. She was thinking about saying yes to several, but Bruce kept popping into her head. She needed to know if she should get on with her life because nothing was happening, or if there was a chance for her and Bruce. She couldn't wait for Bruce forever. It wasn't fair to either one of them.

They stepped out of Clark's apartment and said goodbye to their friend. Diana's smile was genuine as she hugged Clark and wished him a happy birthday. He was one of her best friends, and one of the kindest men Diana knew. She hoped he and Lois would work things out. They were perfect together. She looked at Bruce. But as for their relationship, she wasn't sure.

They smiled at each other before heading down the hall to the elevator, hand in hand. Bruce was carrying the umbrella on his other side. Diana looked at their joined hands. It was strange, but their hands rarely touched. Even when they were sparring, he wore gloves as Batman. It was unusual, but not at all unpleasant. She couldn't help marveling that even though she had superhuman strength, could fly, and could deflect bullets, his hands were still larger than hers. She dropped this thought as they reached the elevator and she pressed the button. They waited in silence, still linked, until it arrived. The doors pinged as they opened, and they stepped inside. As soon as the doors closed, Diana relaxed her hand, fully expecting Bruce to drop it as soon as they were out of sight of Lois. But to her surprise, he didn't let go. He didn't even seem to acknowledge that she had relaxed her hand. She looked over at him, but he continued to stare straight ahead. She turned her head forward, and slowly, cautiously, closed her fingers around his hand again. He continued to stare straight ahead and made no movement except to adjust his hand so that they were no longer simply clasping hands, but had their fingers intertwined. Diana hardly dared to breathe. What was going on?

They stepped out of the sliding glass doors of the apartment building and stood under the awning out of the rain. Bruce paused and pressed the button to open the umbrella. Diana was about to walk out, but he stopped her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close under the umbrella in his other hand, still holding her hand so that her arm crossed her body, their hands joined at her hip, and his arm wrapped around her back. They walked like this, still in silence, all the way to the car, where he did release her hand to open the car door, taking it again as he handed her into the car and shielded her from the rain with the umbrella. He closed the door and got in on the drivers side.

Once they were on their way, he reached for her hand again and held it the whole way back, except when he needed as he was driving. They sat in silence the whole way. Diana's mind was racing. What on earth was happening? Was Bruce trying to show how he felt about her? Should she say something, or wait for him to speak? Eventually, she stopped wondering and decided to just enjoy the moment while it lasted.

All too soon, they arrived at Diana's house. It was still raining when they got there. Her house was small, only one story, but it was perfect for her. It had several nice, large trees in the yard, and a cozy porch swing where she could sit and read if she ever had any free time. Bruce got out and walked around the car and handed her out, again holding her close underneath the umbrella as they walked toward the porch. They stood together under the awning for a few moments, then Bruce released Diana and stood facing her. Finally, he spoke.

"Diana, I was wondering," he said, looking at the umbrella in his hands, as if summoning his courage, "I was wondering if maybe you would like to come over for dinner tomorrow night. If you don't have any plans."

"You mean, with you, Alfred, Dick, Barbara, and Tim?" she asked.

"No, I was thinking...just the two of us."

Diana smiled, "I would love too, Bruce."

He finally looked up at her, "Well. Good. Then, it's a date." He smiled, opened up the umbrella, and stepped out into the rain to walk back to the car.

Diana couldn't stop smiling. A date. Bruce had asked her out on a date. He cared about her enough to face all of his doubts and fears. She knew how hard this was for him, yet he still did it. For her. It wouldn't be much easier from here on out, but at least it was a start. She knew Clark must have had something to do with it. I mean, holding hands to make sure Lois didn't think she liked Clark? Subtlety wasn't Clark's strong suit. When she saw him, she would smack him for making her do that, then give him a big hug.

She snapped out of her haze of happiness when Bruce was about halfway to the car. She hesitated, but then stepped off the porch and hurried over towards him, shielding her face from the rain with her arm. Just as she stepped off the porch Bruce stopped in his tracks, and turned abruptly around as if to march back to the porch. He widened his eyes in surprise to see her already coming towards him, then he smiled. They both laughed, realizing they both had the same idea, and moved quickly towards each other. They slowed down as they got closer, suddenly nervous. Bruce reached out and cupped her cheek with one hand, gently stroking her face with his thumb. Then he leaned in, and he kissed her. She put her hands around his neck, and after a few moments, he dropped the umbrella and wrapped his arms around her waist, allowing the rain to pour down on them. For a brief moment, Diana was reminded of the silly romance movies that Shayera and Dinah made her watch. She would never live it down that her first real kiss with Bruce was so darn cheesy. Then she pushed those thoughts aside and just enjoyed kissing Bruce. They'd kissed once while hiding from soldiers during the Thanagarian invasion, but that didn't really count. This one was real, and she was thoroughly enjoying it. She didn't mind that she was completely soaked. They eventually broke apart. Diana opened her eyes, and looked at Bruce. They smiled at each other.

"I'll see you tomorrow night," said Bruce, brushing her wet hair behind her ear.

"See you then," replied Diana. He picked up the discarded umbrella, leaned in and kissed her again, and headed back to his car. "And don't forget," she called after him, "you still have to take me dancing."

"That'll be our second date," he said, smiling. Then he drove away.

**Next time: Bruce's thoughts**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I really felt like Bruce needed his own chapter after last time. Let's face it, the man has some serious commitment issues. Deciding to date a coworker wouldn't be an easy decision for him. So, here's a pretty optimistic look at Bruce's POV.  
**

Bruce had almost given up when she had relaxed her grip in the elevator. His instinct for self preservation was screaming at him to let her hand go and be done with it. But then he thought about what Clark said, about never knowing, and he held on. It had taken all his willpower to remain calm when she slowly tightened her fingers around his again. He held onto her for dear life the whole way home. He wondered if she knew how nervous he was the whole ride to her house. What if she said no? What if something happened to her? What if their friendship was lost because of this? Even though the idea of starting a relationship sent him into a spiral of doubt, holding her hand strengthened and reassured him at the same time. Being near her always gave him a sense of calm and comfort. She could always make him smile, or at least feel a little better.

Once they got to her house, he asked her out, and she said yes! And he kissed her. Bruce found himself smiling at the memory. He had been so… happy when he turned around to go back to her and she was already halfway to him. He liked being happy.

As he drove home, however, little doubts kept popping into his head. His relationship with Diana had always been…complicated. He'd found himself growing to care for her as time passed. He didn't realize how much until he thought she'd been crushed by the missile in Gorilla City. The loss he'd felt was overwhelming. Of course, she was okay, but it was a huge reality check for Bruce. When had he grown to care for her so much? He found himself noticing all her little quirks. Her sometimes haughty nature, her kindness, the way she brushed her hair behind her ear when she was nervous, her smile, her strength and skill, her wisdom, all of it. And the way she figured out his secret identity in a matter of days. Who knows, she might have figured it out as soon as she started dancing with Bruce Wayne. She figured it out almost as fast as Superman, and he had x-ray vision. Her voice is what saved him from the Black Mercy plant. She was the once who called him back. They always teamed up together; it was natural. They knew what they other would do before they did it. He could be himself around her. They could tease each other. And she was one of the few people who was brave enough to give him crap when he was wrong. She was…wonderful.

He sighed. What if this didn't work out? He couldn't stand losing her friendship because of a failed attempt at a relationship. He didn't want to end up like Shayera and John, no matter what Clark said about them working things out. He had said it himself. Dating within the team never worked. But then again, Oliver and Dinah were still together and going strong. Bruce had even heard that Oliver was planning on proposing soon. Bruce shook his head to clear his thoughts. It didn't' matter what other couples did or what the statistics said. He couldn't predict their relationship based on other people's. He didn't want to cancel their date, but somehow, he was starting to feel less confident about it.

He arrived home, only slightly less damp from his visit with Diana, and was met by Alfred, who took his umbrella and sized him up. "Do I need to purchase a larger umbrella, or did Mr. Kent decide that his birthday wish was to cavort about in the pouring rain with you and Miss Diana?"

"No, Alfred. I just dropped it."

He raised an eyebrow. "I see. Did you forget to pick it up again?"

"I got… distracted," said Bruce with a small smile on his face.

Alfred raised both eyebrows in surprise, then he smiled. "Did this distraction have anything to do with Miss Diana?"

"Possibly."

When Bruce didn't elaborate any further, Alfred collected the umbrella and Bruce's soaked jacket. "Why don't you check on Masters Dick and Tim and Miss Barbara in the media room? You should discuss this situation with Master Dick before you make any rash decisions." Then he walked away.

Bruce walked toward the media room, confused. If he ever talked about anything, it was usually with Alfred. Why would he suggest talking to Dick?

"Oh, that's why," he said to himself as he entered the room. His proteges were the perfect image of a happy family. A movie had clearly just ended, and they were all asleep. Tim was curled up in an armchair with a blanket, snoring. Dick and Barbara were lying on the couch, Barbara resting her head on his chest with his arms around her. They'd recently gotten back together, and it seemed like it was going well. Yet another example of a successful relationship to encourage Bruce. He knew what Alfred was up to, but he couldn't help smiling. He picked up Tim and carried him to his room, covering him with a blanket. His adopted son rolled over and mumbled something about motorcycles and dancing chickens. Bruce, smiled, turned out the light, and headed back to the media room.

When he returned, he was surprised to see Dick stirring and waving at him groggily. "Hey," mumbled Dick, stretching, "How was Clark's party?" He did a double take when he saw Bruce's wet clothes. "And why does it look like you all went swimming?"

Bruce sat down in the armchair Tim had been sleeping in. "It was fine. I got stuck in the rain. How was patrol? Any incidents?"

"Nothing major. Just a convenience store holdup and a really dumb car thief. So don't think you're getting out of talking about Diana. And Clark."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wouldn't want to risk waking up Barbara."

Dick smiled down at the girl resting in his arms. "Are you kidding? She was awake for like 24 hours straight before this. She just slept through an action movie. I sneezed like 3 times and she didn't wake up. We're fine."

Bruce sat back and ran his fingers through his hair. "How do you do it?"

Dick looked confused. "Do what? Sneeze?"

Bruce rolled his eyes. "No. Be like… that!" He waved his hand at the couple. "Date! You both already had bad things happen after dating the first time." He paused, struggling to find the words, and to actually share them with his adopted son. "But… you're still trying. Why would you risk going through that again? Don't you wish you had never gone through that in the first place?"

Dick looked surprised at the personal nature of the question. Feelings weren't exactly his or Bruce's main topic of discussion. But then he pondered the question for a minute and answered, "We're risking it because we care about each other. I want to be with her, and I'm willing to work to make that happen. And, you're right, it's a risk. But everything's a risk. I can't live my life based on the what ifs. Sometimes you have to put yourself out there. And yeah, I wish things had worked out better last time. But I've learned from that. I don't regret having dated her before." Dick paused and looked Bruce in the eyes and smiled sadly. "Even though it would have been easier for me if I had lost my parents before I ever really knew them, I don't regret one second I spent with them, even though it made losing them harder. I'm sure you feel the same about your parents. And even when you and I were fighting, which I admit was my fault as well as yours, you're a father to me, Bruce. You raised me; you took me in. Even when I was so mad at you, I didn't regret you adopting me."

Bruce looked at the floor, taking all this in. He was right. Bruce didn't regret knowing his parents, and he never regretted adopting Dick. Suddenly, he didn't feel as scared about dating Diana. He cared about her. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to get to know her more and spend time with her. He was actually…excited. He'd been excited before too, but this was different. This was long-term excited. He cared about this woman. He thought he might even love her. He had to believe it would work. And if it didn't, it would be painful, but he knew he would never regret spending time with Diana.

"So, Dick," he looked up at his adopted son, "What do you think about Diana?"

Dick grinned, "I think she's amazing, and she's crazy about you."

Bruce grinned. "Good. Me too." He got up to walk out of the room. He smiled down at Dick and ruffled his hair like he used to when he was little, "Thanks, kid."

Bruce walked through a few rooms until he found Alfred. "Alfred, I wanted to let you know that Diana is coming over for dinner tomorrow night."

"For a family dinner, sir?"

"No, just the two of us."

Alfred smiled, "Excellent, Master Bruce."

**Next time: Back to Lois and Clark  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, everyone :) I hope you enjoy this chapter. Only one more to go!**

Clark walked back into his room and watched his friends head toward the elevator using his x-ray vision. He cheered silently to himself when they kept holding hands in the elevator. He did it! Well, he started it! He couldn't wait to check in with Diana the next day to see if Bruce actually asked her out. If he didn't, Clark was going to have to take some drastic measures. Maybe he could get the League to kidnap them and force them to go on a date… No, they're too scared of Batman.

He pondered these things as he gathered the leftover takeout and headed across the hall to Lois's apartment. She was back to sitting on the couch now, but as soon as he had opened his door to let Diana and Bruce leave, she had leaped up and peered through the peephole. She was shocked at first to see Bruce and Diana holding hands, but then she did a little fist pump and whisper-cheered. Which really confused Clark. Could Diana be right about how Lois felt about him? Now she was holding her book, but not reading it at all. She looked like she was processing what she had just seen. He stopped looking as he headed out of his apartment. He tried not to snoop too much. He stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath, and knocked. She opened the door, and he smiled.

"Can I come in? I have sweet and sour chicken." He waved the bag in front of her face. She rolled her eyes, but smiled and let him in.

"So," she said as she closed the door, "How were your friends?"

"They're great. It was nice to just spend time with them. The three of us never get to really just relax together. So," he smirked at her, "what did you think of them?"

"What do you mean? I wasn't there!" she said innocently.

"Lois…" Clark raised his eyebrows at her as he set out the food on the coffee table.

"Oh fine! So I was watching a little bit," she huffed, crossing her arms and heading to the kitchen. But she relaxed as she got some glasses of water. "They seemed… really nice. You seemed really happy. I thought the woman with the black hair liked you at first, but then she and the man held hands on the way out. They're a couple, right? I mean, she doesn't like you?" she asked a little too casually.

Clark smiled. "No, she doesn't like me like that. And I don't like her that way either. Dating Diana would be like dating my sister. But they're not together, yet. I'm working on it."

"Wait, then why were they holding hands when they left? I mean," she backtracked, "I just happened to see that. I wasn't waiting or anything."

"I was trying to set them up, so I told them that you would probably think that Diana liked me, so they should hold hands to make sure you didn't get the wrong idea."

"You told them that I was watching you?" she smacked his arm and then buried her face in her hands. "They probably think I'm some sort of creeper now!"

He laughed and rubbed the spot she smacked out of habit, though it didn't hurt him. "No, they don't. They know that you're a reporter and that you're just," here he paused to think, "...naturally inquisitive. I just really needed a reason to get them to do something romantic, you know, make them realize what they're missing. Well, make him realize it."

Lois peered through her fingers and smiled at him. "I didn't know you were such a little matchmaker."

"Well, I want them to be happy. They're perfect for each other." He grinned. "Plus, if they go on a date sometime this week, my friend John owes me 20 bucks."

They laughed and chatted while they finished off the leftover takeout. As they were cleaning up, Lois realized something. "You know, you never told me the name of your other friend, the man. I didn't get a good look at him, but he looked kind of familiar-"

"Oh look! Uh, movies! Let's watch a movie," interrupted Clark, who started digging through Lois's DVD collection. "Here! Back to the Future. Let's go! I'll pop some popcorn."

"Clark…" said Lois, crossing her arms and glaring at him as he tried to escape to the kitchen. "What's his name?"

"Bruce. His name is Bruce."

"Bruce? Not Bruce Wayne? No, it was him!" said Lois, eyes widening at the realization. "I wasn't paying attention to him, but now that I think about it…" She walked right up to him and got in his face. "When did you become friends with Bruce Wayne? Good enough friends that he would sneak over for your birthday?"

"Well, after you two broke up, I didn't really have a reason to dislike him anymore," said Clark grinning. He didn't notice her blush as he continued. "But seriously. We met up for an interview when I went over to Gotham for a little while to cover Luthor's new Lexcorp branch opening up for the Planet, and we became friends." Which wasn't a total lie, since that visit was when they really started being friends. They had been sitting on a roof for hours staking out Lex's new building. Next thing Clark knew, they were getting coffee in the Batmobile and helping each other with investigations on a regular basis.

"Just how close are you two? Do you know… stuff about him?" asked Lois.

Clark smiled. Clearly Lois was just dying to talk to someone about how Bruce Wayne, billionaire playboy, was also Batman. It must have been torture to not talk about it with someone. Clark was amazed she'd never told him about it, either Clark or Superman. But, she was good about keeping her word. Clark decided he could have a little fun with this. "Oh yeah, we're pretty good friends. I know a lot about him."

Lois looked frustrated. "What do you know? Anything specific?"

"Oh sure. He's an interesting guy. He's not really such a playboy you know."

Lois looked like she was about to explode, "Bigger than that!"

Clark just acted confused,"What do you mean, Lois?"

"I mean, there's something I think you might know but I don't know if you know and I can't ask you if you know because if you didn't know then I'd be breaking a promise but if you did know then we'd both know and we could talk about it!"

Clark finally decided to give her a break. "You mean the fact that he's Batman? Is that what you were talking about?"

"You know?" She asked, surprised. Clark nodded. Her surprise quickly changed to frustration. "Yes, Clark! Of course that's what I was talking about! That's the biggest secret in his life! What else would I be-" she stopped when she noticed Clark trying to stifle his laughter. "Oh, that's mean. You were messing with me!"

She swatted his arm again, and he tried to pretend to wince, but he was laughing too hard. Only half mad now, she tried to swat his other arm, but he quickly caught her hand and reflexively pulled her close. They stood there laughing for a minute, and then grew silent, realizing how close they were. Situations like this were always confusing for Clark. Superman would kiss her right now, but right now, he wasn't Superman.

So, he stepped back, cleared his throat awkwardly, and said, "I'll get going on the popcorn for the movie." He slipped into the kitchen mentally beating himself in the forehead. He was so sick of keeping his life separate. He loved Lois whether he was wearing his suit or not. He had such a great relationship with her as Superman, but he couldn't be that way when he was Clark. They could only be friends. He had to remember that. He took a deep breath, and headed back into the living room.

They settled down to watch Back to the Future, both trying to act like everything was normal. Lois eventually relaxed, enjoying the movie and resting her head on Clark's shoulder. But Clark couldn't help thinking about how things were with Lois, and what Diana said. It was getting harder and harder to be two people around her, especially when Clark and Superman weren't so different anymore. But she would be so angry when she found out. He had lied to her, even if it had been for her own good in the beginning. She wasn't going to take that well. But he couldn't lie to her. He loved her too much to do that anymore.

The credits were about to role when Clark finally got the courage to talk. "Lois, I have something to tell you. Its really important, and really hard for me to say, so please, just don't say anything yet. I've been lying to you. For a long time now. It started out to protect you, but once I started, I didn't really know how to stop. I know you're going to be mad at me, and this is going to change our relationship forever, but you have to know. I just want you to know that I'm really, truly sorry. Lois," he took a deep breath, "I'm Superman. Now, I know that sounds ridiculous, but just hear me out before you say anything. The glasses are fake. And that's why you've never seen me and Superman at the same time. I grew up as Clark Kent in Smallville, just like I told you, but I wanted to help people. So I came to Metropolis and became Superman, to protect myself, and my family, and my friends. I'm still the same person. I've never pretended to be someone I'm not. Well, maybe at first I made Clark different. But not anymore. I am Clark, and I am Superman. The two really aren't that different. I'm so sorry, Lois. I hope you can forgive me."

She didn't answer. "Lois?" He looked down at her head still rested on his shoulder and leaned around to see her fast asleep, arms wrapped through his, feet tucked up beside her on the couch. Clark smiled and laughed to himself. "Of course. Way to go Kent," he said. He wrapped a blanket around both of them, careful to not disturb Lois. "I'll tell you tomorrow." He kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight, Lois." He shifted to a more comfortable position, leaned his head back on the couch, and quickly fell asleep. As soon as his breathing slowed and steadied, a shaking hand slowly lifted to his face and removed his glasses.

**Next time: Epilogue and other mushy things :)**


	8. Epilogue

**Last chapter. Enjoy :)**

_Some time later..._

Bruce and Diana were dancing together at Clark and Lois's wedding reception. It was a fun affair, absolutely no press allowed, only a wedding photographer. Bruce and Diana were happy to see their best friend finally married to the love of his life. All the members of the League who knew Superman's secret identity were there, trying to keep a low profile. Wally was there, chatting with Jimmy and showing off his girlfriend, Linda. J'onn was there in disguise with his wife, happily dancing and chatting with Clark's parents.

The newly married Oliver and Dinah Queen were there, dancing and having a great time. Now, that wedding had been a huge event. Since their identities weren't so secret, pretty much every member of the League had been there, in costume, as well as family and friends. A few villains had tried to take advantage of the wedding, but they were easily defeated by the horde of super powered wedding guests before they even got through the door. Not the brightest idea.

Dick and Barbara were dancing together, while Tim was enjoying all the food. John and Shayera were there, Shayera's wings hidden with a cloaking device Bruce whipped up, though she had to be careful not to run into anyone with her wings.

John and Shayera had recently gotten back together with surprisingly little drama. Vixen had been upset for awhile of course, but she had taken it fairly well and was dating Mr. Terrific now. Even Huntress and the Question were there in their civilian identities. Clark had never told them who he was, but he invited them anyway, assuming the Question had figured it out awhile ago. And who knew with Helena. Better to assume she knew than risk making her mad if she wasn't invited.

Bruce knew Clark wished his friends in the League who didn't know his identity could come to his wedding, but, as Bruce and Diana gently reminded him, that was just one of the drawbacks of Lois marrying Clark instead of Superman.

Bruce watched Lois and Clark as they stepped onto the stage for their first dance. He smiled, noticing that Clark was levitating them slightly, so they were dancing on air. Lois had been so angry with Clark when she learned who he was. She was angry that he had lied to her for so long. She didn't want to be angry with him, but she was. She refused to even speak to him for over a week. Eventually, she realized how much she missed him, missed Clark, and they got back together, first as friends, and then eventually as Lois Lane and Clark Kent. Superman and Lois slowly appeared to drift apart rather quietly, and when the tabloids had gotten bored with their undramatic, rather boring split, Lois and Clark officially started dating. Less than a year later, they were engaged. Clark had gotten all sorts of jokes at work about how it would suck if he ever had a run in with Lois's ex. He just shrugged it off, laughing about it with Lois later. Now that he could tell Lois everything, their relationship had grown even more. They were best friends, and they were in love. They were a perfect couple.

Clark smiled and laughed as Lois whispered something in his ear. They both looked so happy. Lois was tucked into Clark's arms and smiling contentedly. They were finally together, no more secrets or lies.

"I still can't believe you're actually wearing these," said Diana, drawing Bruce out of his thoughts and tapping the frames of his fake glasses.

"Hey, if it works for him," said Bruce grinning. He hadn't want to draw any unwanted attention to Clark's wedding, so he wore some glasses and was careful to only go by his first name. Besides, just because all the League members there knew Superman's identity didn't mean they knew Batman's. So far, no one had recognized him. How such a transparent disguise worked so well, Bruce had no idea, and he wasn't in the mood to question it. Most people didn't even recognize Diana as Wonder Woman, except for those who already knew. Diana said people always saw the armor, not her face. She had her hair elegantly twisted up and was wearing flowing, seafoam green, floor-length gown. Bruce was stunned every time he looked at her.

Diana was so happy that Clark had finally listened to her and told Lois the truth. They couldn't be happier. And her relationship with Bruce was going very well too. They'd survived some minor arguments and had grown closer because of it. He was less afraid now. They'd tried to keep it a secret from their friends, but it didn't go very well. John called them out the very next day. Diana had no clue how he'd known. He claimed it was instinct or something. Even Wally figured it out pretty quickly. Clark somehow managed to win a bit of money from some secret betting pool on their relationship, but J'onn won the most. As the resident mind reader, it didn't come as much of a surprise. Everyone had been so supportive.

Despite her friends antics, Diana was happy. Bruce didn't try to change her. He loved and respected her. She could kick his butt most of the time, and he accepted that. Most men would have been upset, but not him. And he loved her. Just thinking that still made her stomach flip-flop. Just a few years ago, she never could have imagined being friends with a man, much less falling in love with one.

Diana smirked. "Don't look now, but Jimmy's giving you weird looks again." Sure enough Jimmy Olson, who was dancing with maid of honor Lucy Lane, Lois's sister, was frequently glancing at him. He was clearly trying to be sneaky, but it wasn't working at all. According to Lois and Clark, who'd recently danced by to chat, Jimmy had grilled them about this new, spectacled man named Bruce who was Clark's best man while he, Jimmy Olson, was a mere groomsman. Apparently, he'd concluded that this man must be Superman in disguise. Who else would Clark choose to be best man over him? So for most of the evening, Jimmy had been hovering around Bruce, trying to see if he was Superman.

The four of them almost died laughing. Clark was barely able to hold it together when Jimmy confronted him in the first place. The irony was hilarious. Clark didn't lie, but he didn't exactly deny it either. Clark had told Wally, who had told the rest of the original seven members of the League, who all snickered as they danced by Bruce, looking from him to Jimmy. John and Wally were giving him a particularly hard time about it, egging Jimmy on, making him more suspicious.

"He'll just have to get over it," he said, twirling her around and dipping her, smiling down at her.

She grinned back. "Yes, I suppose he will." They were silent for awhile as they continued dancing, enjoying being together, and enjoying their friend's happiness.

"Bruce," said Diana, looking around the room at all of their friends dancing, smiling, laughing; and then at him, "we have a good life, don't we." She smiled at him.

Bruce looked around the room, watching Wally and Linda dance, seeing John and Shayera laughing, noticing the way J'onn always held his wife's hand, watching his son dance with the girl he loved, and seeing his best friend twirl his wife around, or rather above, the dance floor. Clark locked eyes with him and smiled, glancing at where he could see the ring box hidden in Bruce's pants pocket and grinning at him knowingly.

Bruce smirked back, then turned to face Diana. He pulled her close, kissed her, and smiled. "Yes, yes we do."

**_The End_**

**Thank you so much for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it and sharing it with you :).**


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